Who knew Anna Sui did her own Mondrian colorblock shift back in
1984? I certainly didn't -- until I went down to the WWD library last
week to pull film for a story on Yves Saint Laurent's impact on
fashion. I found scores of other surprises, too.
Yves Saint Laurent dress, 1965
photo courtesy of the Fairchild Archives
I pulled up a photo from his spring 1979 collection of a model
wearing a harlequin-patterned gown and realized it matched a spring
2008 Viktor & Rolf look to a T. Hats from his fall 2001 collection
rang of the spiraling, Frank Gehry-like toppers at the most recent
Louis Vuitton show in March, and so on. It's amazing just how
far-reaching his influence was, beyond the safari or
le smoking looks that have become synonymous with his name.
As someone who's still fairly new to the industry -- let's just say,
I'm a child of the Eighties -- my memory bank of YSL moments doesn't go
very far and much of what I do know is filtered through the work of
other designers. So it was quite an eye-opener to get down and dirty
with the company archives. What didn't the guy do? Transparency, beaded
tribalwear, even conical busts. (And I always thought Madonna and Jean
Paul Gaultier had paved that road.)
As for my favorite discovery that day, while looking at a
complicated fringed patchwork coat from Saint Laurent's 2002 couture
finale, I noticed the model behind it, walking away from the camera.
The phrase "Or Never" was prominently displayed on her backside.
Intrigued, I searched for a frontal view. What a nice surprise
considering the events going on. The girl was wearing a cartoonishly
cute coatdress, covered in hearts, stars and puffy clouds emblazoned
with the words, "Love Me Forever."
